Certain achievements, goals or dreams may come across as silly to those who have abundant opportunities. In a society such as Venezuela, where opportunities are few and far between for children, some achievements are a meaningful reason for a child to feel proud.
David Alonzo is one such child. He is very happy to hear that he’s the very first child to have completed the entire game “What is the Internet.” It is quite an accomplishment that he got through all the levels with at least two stars each. The game is part of the e-learning solution DTML has brought to schools in underserved countries.
Its importance is particularly meaningful since David has been consistently focused on his learning and working hard to learn content in the DTML platform. The achievement is an amazing thing for him and has meaning because his determination has paid off.
The game he conquered was one of logic, which was accessed through a virtual computer web connection, which has given him a chance to increase his intelligence.
He played the game in school. Now that the school year is over, he has traveled to visit some close relatives in a neighboring state of Zulia to enjoy his holidays.
He went to Santa Barbara de Zulia to visit his grandparents, the parents of his father. Family is important to him. They are from his mother’s side of the family. His grandfather is a Columbian shoemaker and his grandmother cuts and sews clothes.
His parents are hard working also. David knows exactly what his parents do and why. His father is Eric Emil Guerrero, a Venezuelan who was born in Santa Barbara. Thankfully he has a position with a values transportations company, Transbanka Merida. His mother, Leidy Magerline Mendoza Hernandez, is also Venezuelan, who was born in Merida. It is a difficult situation, because his mother has been separated from the family to work in a Peru pizzeria, just so the family can get by.
David likes to talk excitedly about his only brother, who is 6. He thinks since he himself likes gaming so much, his brother will probably be a gamer too someday.
David may only be a kid, but he gets serious when he talks about his future. He has some remarkable aspirations and seems to really believe in his ability to achieve goals which he hasn’t seen anyone in his family aspire to.
He has obviously done a lot of thinking about the options available to him and even the ones which may seem out of reach. But they aren’t out of reach in his mind. Because when you accomplish even a seemingly little thing, like being the first to complete an educational game, you never know what you can do.
Education can bring hope and awareness of what is out there. It did this for David.
He knows what he likes to do and knows what kind of lifestyle he wants in the future. As a child with hardworking parents struggling to get by, he knows that hard work is necessary. But he does have imaginings of how things could be better for him. He has a complete picture in his mind, to include life balance, with what certain types of work could bring him in terms enjoying his family and friends.
His vision is to lead a large enterprise or be a big investor. Not only are the occupations he chooses ambitious, but he uses adjectives in his speech, such as “big” to emphasize his desire to reach the top of occupations that require a lot of education.
As with most children, he has many ideas of what he might want to become. He learned through the e-learning platform that he absolutely loves gaming. When he talks about the levels in the logic game he completed, he becomes enmeshed in what he is saying.
The game was so intriguing to him that he says he tried several times before he was able to achieve certain levels. Of course, for anyone who has played online games, they tend to have that effect on children, and even some adults. But this one was different because he was actually learning while playing.
When describing it, he says it was like he was in a hypnotic trance. He was concentrating so intensely during one of the sessions that he didn’t realize at first that the game had finished.
So, it is very understandable that he would want to be a “gamer” when he grows up. Anyone would want to do what they love while earning a living. Some people who are motivated and skilled enough can make that happen. David certainly has the motivation and is learning the skills.
David doesn’t just want to play games, he wants to be a renown gamer. He wants to be the best at it, until he is able to make a living doing it. When a child specifies that he not only wants to do something, but wants to be the best at it, that is a sign he has unique aspirations and talents.
Kids like David deserve to have the educational means to increase their intelligence, skills and learning curve so they don’t have to settle for using only part of their potential.
David has already thought through what this type of work would entail. He knows it wouldn’t be all lounging around playing games and being lazy. He knows it would require a lot of work and creativity.
He even has considered how his ability to be empathetic with other people would fit into the picture. Sharing games with people and enjoying that aspect of it would be important too.
Not many kids think through their exceptionally high goals with this much detail and forethought.
He also sees the benefits which he believes he deserves. Those rewards for his efforts would be that his work would resemble a perpetual vacation. He would be able to enjoy his family and friends. The importance of family and friends is not lost on him.
He says being a gamer is his dream because he loves it and is good at strategy games, puzzles and mazes, including Minecraft.
The reason he started DTML is because of the types of games it offered. He thought it was a great opportunity because he needed to practice English and learn about computers. He was curious about networks, how they work and all the vocabulary that go along with that subject.
As a kid who doesn’t have as many opportunities as kids in other countries, he recognized his need to learn and was grateful to have the chance. He felt the learning system started to get even better as games became part of the system.
He talks about his love for puzzles and games. He found the game “What’s the Internet?” very appealing. The content he found there was amazing to him. He had imagined the internet differently, but was intrigued to learn the relationship between satellites, servers, providers, routers, modems and devices, and had fun doing so. He didn’t have access to this kind of information before and was fascinated by it.
He recognizes that some games aren’t about learning but are about war. He enjoys those games too and easily understands the difference between real life wars and fantasy. He feels that real life war is a mistake and would like to make wars end and terrorists stop inflicting suffering and pain.
A highly intelligent and good-hearted child like this could do so much good in the world if given the right resources for learning.
DTML made a huge difference for one child. What can it do for others? To help make a difference, donate to our free learning platform so we can reach more kids. The world can only be a better place because of it.
